Making Herstory

“Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of sex” – Equal Rights Amendment approved by Congress in 1972

Photograph of Marie Head and Karen Stephens doing an interview about their experience on the march on Washington in January 2017

Preserving the Stories of Women and LGBTQ+ Communities

Years ago, archivists (like previous generations of historians) documented the powerful, celebrated, and affluent members of our society – primarily white men. Our department was founded to focus on ordinary working people in the South. In 1971, our collection represented a new, broader perspective, but was still one in which male voices dominated.

As we have grown, GSU Special Collections worked to include documentation of the lives of women and members of the LGBTQ+ community in our collections. Our work as archivists includes ongoing partnerships with community members in order to preserve documentation of their lives and perspectives. We also bring to light and celebrate important, untold stories that have been hidden in our records, such as that of GSU’s first female students.